100% CPU usage on idle

[iancollins]

This is an observation..... and not a bug report.

I am running UV on an Athlon 1g with 512Meg RAM, OS is Win2000. When the program is at idle.........waiting for order input from me.......Task Manager shows the CPU usage at 100%.

I have seen this reported before for another game where some users, running the program on laptops, reported a heat increase of their machines and also faster battery drain.

In my case (my machine is a desktop) there is no obvious problem with 100% CPU usage. As far as I know it was not a contributory cause to the complete anihilation of my CVs Lexington and Yorktown in the first five days of scenario one.....

[Marc von Martial]

Task Manager shows the CPU usage at 100%.

Is that constant or temporarily ?

[iancollins]

It's constant.

I have no other programs running........ only UV. I alt-tab to the desktop to minimise UV and then launch Task Manager. CPU usage remains at 100%......... for 5 minutes on a test just done.

[Corwin]

Hi all,


Although I haven't been able to get the game to run at all at home, it does run on my machine at work usinge Windows 2k. When I alt-tab to minimize my cpu is at 100% and stays there until I use the task manager to quit the game. Even clicking the Q button in the game doesn't stop it from "running" according to the task manager.

Thanks

[sbond]

Mine is 100% when UV is running. Have to minimize it to look but it is pegged everytime. I am using Win XP

[Kindaas]

Originally posted by sbond
Mine is 100% when UV is running. Have to minimize it to look but it is pegged everytime. I am using Win XP

This really sounds like some kind of memory leak to me. Does it go to 100% and stay there as soon as you start the game, or does it take time to build to that.


Regards

[iancollins]

Truk,

It isn't a memory leakage. The CPU usage (as reported by Task Manager) stays at 100% when the program is waiting for input. It remains at that level until the program is closed.

As I said in my first message, I have seen this reported for another game. The problem had something to do with CPU polling used in the I/O routine (please don't ask me to explain more........I'm not technically competent enough either to understand what this means or to explain it further.......perhaps the techies here can explain it?). The problem was subsequently corrected in a patch.

Ian

[CJ Martin]

I can report that I have seen the same thing (100% CPU usage when UV is running) on my machine. It's a new machine and I've been carefully monitoring CPU load and temperatures ever since I built it a couple of weeks ago. Believe it or not, it seems UV stresses my CPU more than Dungeon Siege does (based on CPU temperatures).

My system:

Windows XP Home
AMD Althon XP 1900+
512M PC2700 RAM
Abit AT7 motherboard (onboard sound and NIC enabled)
Abit GeForce 3 Ti 200
40G Maxtor ATA133 HD
Latest BIOS / Drivers / Windows updates

-CJ Martin

[battlehammer]

does all these system run an amd processor. im running a p4 but i havent checked my cpu usage yet. im also running xp home edition.

[lofar]

I'm running a P4 1.6 512 ram winXP home and mine is running at 100% the entire time I'm in the game. Hear the old fan really cranking up to cool the chip. This can't be a good thing and I think I'll back off the game until this is addressed.

[sbond]

Could it hurt my CPU running that high for hours? It is like that everytime I play, have checked it 10 times at least.

[lofar]

Heat Kills!

[CJ Martin]

UPDATE:

I earlier posted that UV appeared to be stressing my system more than Dungeon Siege (for those that aren't familar with Dungeon Siege, it's basically a 3D version of Diablo, and very graphics intensive). After running some addition tests, I can now confirm this is true.

I run a CPU temperature monitor program, and it has the ability to log CPU temps and CPU load (among other things), and track the lowest, highest and average numbers.

Idle temp for my CPU is 38 degrees C.

When I run Dungeon Siege for a hour, the highest CPU temperature recorded was 45 degrees C.

If I run UV for an hour, the highest CPU temp recorded was 48 degrees C. From looking at the log files, the CPU appears to be running at 100% load from the time UV starts until it is shut down. Dungeon Siege is not running at 100% all the time, and this accounts for the lower max temp recorded.

For the record, I have a pretty high end CPU cooler and case combo.

Clearly, something seems wrong. Could we at least get an official acknowledgement that this is being looked into?

Thanks.

-CJ

[Erik Rutins]

CJ et. al.,

Sorry for the silence, we sometimes forget to communicate what we're working on as well as we should. This is definitely being looked into, it was put on Keith Brors' to do list about a week ago and we're hoping he will be able to resolve the issue. Thanks for all your feedback.

Regards,

- Erik

[CJ Martin]

Erik,

Great news, thanks for the update. I've walked in your shoes, so I know how hard it is to keep track of things AND get back to the customers. Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

Great game! You and your coworkers really delivered the goods.

-CJ

[Hartmann]

I wonder, though, whether there is any risk involved in playing UV at this stage - I mean for the hardware, of course. (We already know of several confirmed risks for physical, mental and marital health. )

Hartmann

[Erik Rutins]

Hartmann,

I've been monitoring my own CPU temp and I don't believe there's any significant danger here. While the CPU is warmer, it's not at any danger level. I've had UV running long campaign tests on many builds including v1.00 for days in a row on my second computer without exceeding the safe range at all. The vast majority of systems are designed with tolerances that allow you to use the CPU fully.

I would only worry if you have a home-brew system with improper cooling or an incorrectly applied CPU heat sink / fan. In that case I'd be worried not just about UV but about keeping it on for any length of time with any program.

We'd like to see this corrected because it's simply not very multitask-friendly, but we don't believe any system damage will occur, even after extended UV play. Anecdotally, I think this may have only shown up in some of the last builds. I noted a bit of slowdown at that time, but never connected it to an increase in system CPU usage.

Regards,

- Erik

[Hartmann]

Originally posted by Erik Rutins
Hartmann,

I've been monitoring my own CPU temp and I don't believe there's any significant danger here. While the CPU is warmer, it's not at any danger level. I've had UV running long campaign tests on many builds including v1.00 for days in a row on my second computer without exceeding the safe range at all. The vast majority of systems are designed with tolerances that allow you to use the CPU fully.

I would only worry if you have a home-brew system with improper cooling or an incorrectly applied CPU heat sink / fan. In that case I'd be worried not just about UV but about keeping it on for any length of time with any program.

We'd like to see this corrected because it's simply not very multitask-friendly, but we don't believe any system damage will occur, even after extended UV play. Anecdotally, I think this may have only shown up in some of the last builds. I noted a bit of slowdown at that time, but never connected it to an increase in system CPU usage.

Regards,

- Erik

Thanks, Erik. That's exactly the reply I was hoping for.

Hartmann

[gunnergoz]

Well, this does likely explain the sudden dump from the game that I experienced a few days ago...had had the game on for hours on my homebrew P3/1 gig system (with fans, natch) and it just - poof - went to desktop with the signs I generally associate with CPU instability...don't ask me what they are, I'm an intuitive type and not an engineer, but I've messed with PC's for over 17 years now. I turned off the PC right afterwards in disgust (only momentary) and now it all clicks...the little CPU was pooped out!